


Like Real People Do

by theangelsace



Category: Raven Cycle - Maggie Stiefvater
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-15
Updated: 2016-11-15
Packaged: 2018-08-31 06:34:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,501
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8567914
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/theangelsace/pseuds/theangelsace
Summary: Adam contemplates what reality means now the thing with Cabeswater is over





	

**Author's Note:**

> Slight alternative ending to The Raven King

Reality was a strange word when Adam stopped and thought about it. It certainly was to him. His reality had involved long dead Welsh Kings, tarot cards and prophecies, dreams and demons. To Adam reality was Cabeswater, and his connection with the place. Reality was St Agnus church, a shoebox room in the attic that he could call home. It was The Barns, a place made from dreams and where time stood still. Above all this though, reality was Ronan. 

Two weeks ago, Gansey had died. Two weeks ago, they bought him back from the dead. It had taken several hours to explain everything to Henry, who had found himself thrown into the middle of everything, and now their reality was his as well. Gansey had died, they’d bought him back, and now they were free. He, Blue, and Henry were planning their road trip across the country. So far this had mostly consisted of Blue arguing that she’d pay her own way, whilst Gansey insisted otherwise. When asked to cast the deciding vote, Henry had thrown his hands in the air and claimed to be Switzerland, it was a safe move. Adam and Ronan had already made a hasty retreat to the Barns. It was where they spent most of their time now, what little Adam had kept at St Agnus’ had already been moved, it had only taken one trip. He had his own room, but he never used it, preferring to spend the nights with Ronan. 

“There you are” Ronan announced as he walked in. Adam had sought refuge in the hen house for the morning, thinking about his future. College, that was Adam’s future, everything he had worked for all these years, and now it was here. It was here, and he had his scholarship, one that would pay for almost all of it, and yet it didn’t seem real. It was everything Adam had ever wanted, and now he wasn’t so sure. It no longer seemed like reality to Adam. This was, crouched down in a large, but simple hen house, feeding the birds and gathering eggs. Again, it was Ronan, who had bought with him sandwiches and mugs of tea, that he offered to Adam until he accepted. “I saw the letter”

There was only honesty in Ronan’s voice, like there always was. Adam had left his letter of acceptance on the coffee table, for all the world to see, he just didn’t know if he had hoped that Ronan would spot it or not. They were sat in silence, shoulder to shoulder, neither looking at the other at the same time, until Adam finally spoke up “How can I leave?”. He wasn’t looking at Ronan, but at the floor. 

“Because it’s everything you’ve ever wanted” Ronan answered, as if though it was the simplest thing in the world. Adam could feel Ronan’s hand on his chin, soft and warm, lifting his head up to look at him. He was right, of course. To go to college, to get away from Henrietta, to make something of himself was all Adam had ever wanted. And now it seemed that all he had ever wanted was right in front of him. Literally, right in front of him. 

“What if I don’t want that anymore?” he asked. It was almost all he had thought about in the two weeks since Gansey had died and they saved him. At Ronan’s confused look he continued. “College is still an option of course it is” he paused, it was something he wanted to do, but maybe it didn’t have to be at one half way across the country “It’s just not as important, as us”

“No, it’s more important” Ronan put “You’re…” he continued until Adam cut him off. 

“I can’t be so far away” he confessed. “Not from you, not now”

“We’d manage” Ronan said. He was right of course; they would make it work. Nightly phone calls, because Adam knew he was probably the only person Ronan would use his phone for. Skype calls at least once a week, that Blue and Gansey were bound to be a part of as well. It wouldn’t be the same though. It wouldn’t be the same, as real as this moment was. They wouldn’t be able to reach out to one another, wouldn’t be able to touch and kiss for weeks at a time. 

Adam, being Adam had had a plan to fall back on all along. A community college an hour’s drive from Henrietta, one which was offering the exact courses that Adam wanted, and one which had already offered him a place. All he had to do was accept.

He told Ronan all of this. And Ronan told him it was up to him. 

Sitting in a hen house, likely made from Niall Lynch’s dreams, surrounded by chickens that were most likely Ronan’s creations, Adam made his decision. He pulled the letter he’d been carrying around with him for the past week out of the pocket of his jeans. It had been folded and unfolded so many times now, that it had become almost nothing more than a crumbled mess. Adam knew what it said, word for word; details of when classes would start and when he would have to accept the offer by. Outlines of the scholarship, and how that would work, including assistance with paying for accommodation. He wouldn’t need that though, not if he could just drive back here at the end of the day. His one concern though was, the hondayota was nearly at death’s door, like it had been since Adam had got it. It broke down at least twice a week, and he worried that two hour round trips five days a week would be the final nail in the coffin. He didn’t need to though, Ronan had already offered him the keys to the BMW, and he of course refused, because he didn’t want their relationship to be just about Ronan giving him stuff. Of course, Adam knew that their relationship was so much more than that, he just had to learn to believe it. 

Amid the silence, Adam became aware of the sound of rain hitting the wooden structure. The thing about rain at The Barns was that it was every writer’s ideal of what rain should be, only lasting so long as it was needed, and never heavy enough that the acres of land became sodden in the aftermath. He closed his eyes and listened to the rain, he knew that Ronan had already finished reading the letter, but he was still staring at the words, as if though he was waiting for them to tell him what to say. 

He didn’t expect Ronan’s answer to change, so he wasn’t surprised when Ronan broke the silence and said the same thing as a few minutes before. 

“It’s what I want” saying it out loud made it real, but it was true. He wanted college, and the life that could give him, but he also wanted Ronan. A life together here, growing food and rearing animals, and taking care of Opal together. And it seemed he could have both, if he accepted the offer by the end of tomorrow. He could go inside right now and email them if he wanted to, but he was comfortable here with Ronan. He almost hadn’t realised that he had woven their fingers together until he felt Ronan lifting their hands up, bringing Adam’s to his lips. 

In private now, the two of them were nearly always touching in some way or another, reassurance that neither was dreaming. It kept them on the ground. The two of them who had never been comfortable with physical contact accepted it from the other, because they knew it was never meant to hurt, only comfort. Adam moved his hand away from Ronan’s lips, and replaced it with his own, lips pressed together soft, and warm, and real. 

 

When they eventually pulled apart, the next words out of Adam’s mouth were the last he had been expecting “Marry me” two simple words that had the power to change their lives forever. Two words, that normally Adam would think and worry about for months at a time, before making such an important decision, and yet he had just come out and said it in the spur of the moment.

When Ronan didn’t say anything, Adam got scared, worrying that they didn’t want the same thing. And now that he had a chance to stopped and thought about it, perhaps it was too soon, they were only eighteen, after all. When Adam said all of this to Ronan, he found himself being pulled into another kiss. This one was all Ronan, passion and honesty all rolled into one, and it had the power to say whatever Ronan couldn’t. 

This was Adam’s reality, sat in a hen house as rain continued to fall outside, kissing Ronan with a promise of a life together.


End file.
